2 weeks Ago
Ric Charlesworth AO is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played first-class cricket for Western Australia and international hockey for the Kookaburras. He revolutionised hockey coaching, leading the Hockeyroos to two Olympic gold medals.
He joined me for a short morning run at the picturesque Matilda Bay. TONY BUTI: Ric, nice to see you. You have just been to the Paris Olympics as an assistant coach to China, tell us about that experience.
RIC CHARLESWORTH: It is the eighth Olympics I have been to as a player or a coach, so I suppose it wasn't a new experience, but different again, because of my role as an assistant coach. Paris is a fantastic city. The organisation and the carriage of the Olympics was terrific.
It's always an exciting time. It was bittersweet in some ways. It was a wonderful result for China (who won silver), but terribly, terribly disappointing it was the team that knocked Australia out in the quarter-finals.
And I knew going to that game at the end of the day I was going to feel good and bad because one of those teams is going to win and the other would lose. I wish it had happened on the later match. TB: You've had a very successful career in many different disciplines — sporting, politics, medicine.
What makes a successful leader? RC: For me, leadership is about two things. It's about real definition, about where you want to get to. Imagination and belief are part of.
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